Alastair Marsh, from the university’s Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, said: “The familiar construction materials of fired brick and concrete have a heavy environmental cost, with cement production alone accounting for 5-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“Developing lower impact construction materials is an essential task to enable our world’s growing population to house ourselves adequately without contributing to climate change.

“Using this technology, a typical family home could be built using approximately 10 tonnes of soil, by adding 5-10% sodium hydroxide – a chemical similar to those found in household cleaning products – to geopolymerise the soil.”

Mr Marsh, a postgraduate researcher in civil engineering, said there is a significant knowledge gap in understanding how the geopolymerisation reaction works for different soil types

He is chemically and physically testing a range of soils with the process to determine whether these new materials could be used to build affordable and sustainable housing.

Depending on the materials and required properties, geopolymer-stabilised soils could have as little as half the carbon emissions impact of concrete, and a quarter that of fired bricks, he said.

Professor Andrew Heath, from the same university department, added: “This research is key to the development of sustainable housing around the world.”